Oh Dear Silvia

He sits with a sense of being watched, although he himself is the watcher.

I should have known better than to pick the book with the comedy genre sticker on it. Just like trying to find a fantasy book that isn’t part of a series, I continue to look for a book that deserves its comedy genre sticker.

It’s not that oh Dear Silvia is completely without laughs. It’s just all of them stem from awkward and cringe-worthy situations. Silvia is in a coma after a fall from her balcony. Every chapter is for someone from her life, visiting her in the hospital, showing a different side to the patient. Is she a selfish mother, a life-saver, a role model, a loveless monster or all of them combined? Or none of the above?

All the anger directed at Silvia seems definitely deserved, until the plot shows its backside and you remember that there’s always more to the eye than one can see. It’s not funny, but it’s reality. And with or without Silvia, the people around her will continue to build their own version of it.